What Would Be an Interesting "Awakening Persona" Idea

[Atticus Lee]

I'm conceptualizing an "Awakening Persona" fangame, but I'm not sure what to center it on. The gameplay would be 2d action but I can't decide between three "plot" styles:

1.  Awakening, Gangrel arc. Basically you create your character and run Chapter 1-11
2.  Open-world, skyrim-ish
3. Dynasty Warriors Empire style, choose a faction (or start your own) and take over the continent of Ylisse.

The first idea would be more easy and realistic to make, but it'd have no replay value since everybody already knows how Chapter 1-11 turns out.

The second idea would allow more "player freedom" but without a clear goal or time-sensitive plot and the "quality" of a good open-world game, there isn't really any incentive to "play".

The third idea hypothetically lets the player create more than one customized character, but the gameplay style of DW:Empires might be too niche for people, and too long to have replay value.

 

What I'm really looking for is a balance between replayability, players actually finishing a runthrough, and people actually being interested in it. Thank you for reading.

[coldhand25]

Hmm, how about the style of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII? Open World game, but there is a timer, so people can't play it endlessly, therefore they won't get bored by the lack of content after they finish the storyline? I mean, sure, it sounds bad to play while the clock's ticking on you, but if one manages to make it feel good, it can easily become addictive. Also, there is replay value, as you probably (should I say, optimally) can't finish everything in one run. Of course, it's hard to balance how much time is needed as a bare minimum, but I think this style might have everything that an open world game needs to have replay value, and I genuinely enjoyed it, even though I hate when games have a time limit.